Student Committee Advises Houghton On Theater Library

Jeanne T. Newlin, curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, announced yesterday the formation of a student advisory committee including representatives from seven Harvard theatrical societies.

Newlin said she envisioned the new group as a "helpful task force which will be able to assist my staff in locating and preserving the documents and records of on going Harvard theatrical events."

The Theatre Collection, housed beneath Lamont Library, is one of the largest research facilities in the world for the study of many aspects of performance, including magic, vaudeville, minstrels and circus.

The library's collection includes a collection of playbills, prompt-books, press cuttings and business records from Harvard productions and nearly 2 million English and American playbills, most from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The 11-member committee is chaired by Peter L. Borowitz '75, member of the Radcliffe Grant-in-Aid Society and includes representatives from the Harvard Dramatic Club, the Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the Lowell, Winthrop and Leverett House drama societies.

Both Newlin and Borowitz said they hoped other students would join the committee.

Newlin said she is pleased by student recognition of the value of documenting Harvard productions. "Sometimes I think we've had fuller coverage of London and New York than of our own backyard," she said.

Borowitz said the committee will help keep track of Harvard students who go on to work in the professional theater after graduation and will provide an opportunity for representative and leaders of the Harvard theatrical community to meet on a regular basis.

"It's surprising how little contact there has been in the past between the various sections of the theatrical community here, Borowitz said. "Many of the members of the committee had not met each other before our first meeting," he said.

In addition to serving the needs of He said, "In the addition to serving the needs of the Theatre Collection, this committee can operate in an informal way to confront issues of common concern," he said.

Taping Harvard productions is one of the suggestions.

The committee has already suggested taping of Harvard productions to the collection staff, Borowitz said, "to insure that original shows like 'Suffragette' and 'The Teeth of Mons Herbert' are preserved."

The Theatre Collection, a department of Houghton Library, was founded in 1915, and maintains an extensive books and photograph collection as well as first drafts, prompt books, set and costume sketches and production notes from the theater around the world.

Martha Mahard, staff assistant to Newlin, described the collection's research correspondence and photograph orders as "international" and "amazing." She said the collection is used by students preparing Harvard productions as well as by doctoral candidates from many universities.